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Barbell What is your favorite ab exercise?

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Krabapplekid

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What is your favorite ab exercise? And why? What is the purpose or goal of your ab training?

Does anyone know of any good abd strength resources?
 
Hey,

I have two favorites ab exercises:

1/ Hanging leg raises (keeping legs straitght)
2/ Janda sit ups

Basically, I do a kind of circuit: 25 of 1/ and immedialtely 25 of 2/. Then, I rest for 30s. I repeat this circuit 5 times.

It works a lot the grip and forearms. Besides, it works "low" and "high" abs in depth. Doing long sets and short rest periods works endurance and force.

I do this almost every day. Sometimes, I prefer a five minute plank or ab wheel. It depends on the energy I have.

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
I like presses, squats, pull-ups, tgus, cleans, swings, etc. About everything I do.

I train to be healthy and able.

I heartily recommend books by Mr. Tsatsouline. There are also other good authors, such as Dan Joh.
 
I second Mr. Freides above with the standing wheel rollouts. It's pretty much the only "ab"-specific drill that I put to use any longer.
 
I am a powerlifter for 8 years now and I own many Pavel and Dan John storybooks. I am an absolute minimalist working PTTP 5 nights a week currently.

Now my problem with most ab exercises is the lack of carryover to functional movement, and potential injury to the lumbar spine. I was expecting a thread promoting planks and plank variations which I have had success with in the past. But it never hurts to try something new when things get stale.

One arm push-ups and the ab wheel have caused my lumbar spine pain in the past.
 
Hey,

With a TRX, you have an exercise called "superman". Here's a video with different abs moves with a TRX


Kind regards,

Pet'
 
I am another fan of standing ab wheel rollouts. Other great ab exercises in disguise for me are heavy get ups, bottom up kettlebell work, grippers.
 
Harald Motz said:
great ab exercises in disguise for me are heavy get ups, bottom up kettlebell work, grippers
Click to expand...

Harald you a right about the bottom up work. Bottom up cleans with some weight really hit the abs! But, a strong grip is a must before attempting heavy bottom up cleans!!

Why does this sound so funny...:oops:
 
In addition to my KB work the biggest ab strength enhancer for me was a combination of dead bugs and loaded Leopard crawling.
 
Thanks for that article link Harald, that is very comprehensive on the different ways to do bottom up, and all of the benefits! I am going to continue with GTG bottom-up cleans and presses as you have demonstrated...
 
Yeah, deadbugs! Not only are those working the core, they were a huge part in cleaning up my left shoulder instability. I don't think I would have ever noticed the huge asymmetry between my left and right shoulders until I started those and my left arm was shaking all over as it approached parallel to the floor. I had to do isometric holds for sets of one for a while. Those were as magical as slow, controlled, tall kneeling halos for fixing my shoulder.
 
Stir the Pot exercises are a great advanced ab exercise. I've heard Stu McGill speak before and he once said that when he works with MMA fighters, he tries to get them to work a full championship bout on this exercise - 5 mins on, 1 off for 5 rounds. Couldn't even imagine doing that!!

I do love various plank variations for exercises. Holds in the OAP or one arm one leg pushup as well! fantastic
 
My favorite ab exercise is every lift that I do ;) If you employ proper technique, you don't necessarily need to train specifically for abs. I have very visible abs and I never train them specifically.
 
Arryn Grogan said:
My favorite ab exercise is every lift that I do ;) If you employ proper technique, you don't necessarily need to train specifically for abs. I have very visible abs and I never train them specifically.
Click to expand...
I think most people benefit from doing ab work some of the time, e.g., I will do it when I'm deadlifting relatively light weights and drop it towards the end of a cycle.

I am _not_ casting aspersions here but visible abs don't necessarily mean they're as strong as they could be. And sometimes a little ab work helps you "find" your abs and start using them better in all your lifts. I do actually very little, sometimes as little as one or two reps, but I still find the "ab wakeup call" helpful.

-S-
 
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